"I mean, yeah, they told me. But why the hell would I trust an Iron player?"

    Magia was Iron.

    — NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    — I’M LOSING MY MIND LOLOLOLOLOL

    — You know what? Never mind. LOLOLOLOL

    :: Anonymous donated 10,000 Clouds! ::

    :: Excuse me, but ma’am, you are also Iron. ::

    :: Anonymous donated 5,000 Clouds! ::

    :: Ajeok-a behavior, wtf. LOLOL ::

    — Oh, so this is why she’s Iron. LMAO

    — Yeah, that tracks.

    — Bro, there are thousands of YouTube guides on Naore, why didn''t you watch at least one???

    — Whatever, at least she’s Diamond in Battle Col. Cheers. LOL

    — Okay, yeah. I believe it now. She’s definitely Iron.

    Honestly, if she hadn’t said that, people would’ve started conspiracy theories.

    Like, "Did she tank her rank on purpose? Is this a throwaway smurf account?"

    Because, sure, FPS fundamentals helped.

    But knowing how to use smoke screens to manipulate vision and delete turrets was not Iron-tier gameplay.

    "Wait, you never watched any YouTube guides?"

    "I didn’t think I needed to. I was playing fine."

    And just like that, everything made perfect sense.

    Komari, the Na-ssems, everyone—

    They all took a deep breath...

    And smelled the overwhelming scent of rusted metal.

    Yeah.

    She was Iron.

    Magia wasn’t playing Naore.

    She was playing Apolla.

    And in her mind, she had no reason to learn the game mechanics,

    because if she got something wrong, Komari would tell her.

    Which, in turn, would boost Komari’s reactions and character persona.

    That made it even worse.

    "Unnie. Please, just remember what I told you, okay? Even the absolute vermin of this game know this stuff. The guy who rage-quit knew it. That’s why he left. Because he refused to play with someone who didn’t."

    "Ahh, I see."

    "I don’t want people calling you a bug, Unnie. So remember this. The first 10 minutes of the game, you stay in your lane. It’s the only way to survive in this hellhole called Iron."

    Of course, to Magia, this was just more backseating.

    Ding.

    The clear sound of the bell rang through the stream.

    "Three stacks."

    "Wait—No, that wasn’t backseating! That was just a conversation! How is this backseating?!"

    "I told you before we started. If I feel like it’s backseating, I’ll ring the bell. And I felt like it was."

    "Aghhh. Uuuughh."

    For the first time ever, Komari hit a brick wall.

    Normally, the moment she started ranting, the floodgates opened.

    Even if she didn’t curse, she’d dig up every creative insult under the sun until the other person broke.

    But today?

    She had to pull her punches so hard it was physically painful.

    And the longer the Leafies watched, the more they realized—

    This was historic.

    — Wait, so there’s no Rage Komari today?

    — This is good content.

    — "A dominating Komari? Above her, there is only Staff-D."

    — Anonymous donated 5,000 Clouds!

    :: She’s Iron in rank, but Challenger at silencing Komari. ::

    — "Watching Komari struggle... This is delicious."

    — "DAMN IT, STAFF-D. YOU’RE THE STRONGEST EVEN HERE?"

    — "PLEASE, NEVER LEAVE PARALLEL."

    ***

    Meanwhile, at Parallel’s headquarters.

    On her way out, Cheon Do-hee stopped by the operations team, casually taking a seat next to Team Leader Kang Ji-ho, who was grinning while watching a broadcast.

    “What’s so funny?”

    “Oh, you’re heading home? Gia’s on Komari’s stream today.”

    “Oh, right. That’s today. My brain is a mess lately. How’s it going? It must be pretty rough compared to other streams, considering all the Na-ssems.”

    “I thought so too, but honestly, this is hilarious.”

    When Do-hee first asked Ji-ho to keep an eye on Gia’s work, she had been worried Ji-ho might refuse.

    After all, Ji-ho was a mother raising a ten-year-old son, working full-time in a dual-income household, and at her level, she was practically at a department manager’s rank.

    It wouldn’t have been strange if she declined, citing personal obligations. Do-hee had even prepared herself to accept that, deciding she wouldn’t mind if there was no report on today’s stream.

    But surprisingly, Ji-ho had accepted immediately.

    Not only that, she even encouraged Gia to go out freely whenever she needed to.

    The reason?

    A mother’s desire for a daughter.

    She loved her son dearly. But having another child while balancing work and family was... difficult.

    And in an unexpected way, Gia filled that gap.

    Despite being busy with her own work, Gia always stepped in to help the operations team when something urgent came up.

    She never treated it like someone else’s problem—she worked on it as if it were her own.

    Ji-ho had already favored Gia, but the day Gia covered a night shift for her and then worried about her getting home safely... that was it. Gia had completely won her over.

    She had even half-joked before, “If I had a daughter like her, I’d have nothing left to wish for.”

    “...How the hell does she know less about Naore than I do?”

    “She spent all her time on Battle Colosseum, so she doesn’t know a thing.”

    “But that’s why it’s so funny. And since she’s a Battle Col Diamond, I guess she just never listened to anyone in her tier.”

    “...Like?”

    “Well, basic stuff. ‘Stay in your lane for the first ten minutes,’ ‘who should take the Shadow spawns in the alleyways,’ and ‘when the Dark Knight spawns at 20 minutes, everyone rotates to mid’—things like that.”

    These were fundamental to playing Naore.

    But honestly? Do-hee didn’t know much either.

    Back when she was struggling for content ideas, she had played a bit off-stream—but that was about it.

    So she was genuinely surprised that Ji-ho knew so much.

    When Ji-ho first joined Parallel as a department manager, she had zero gaming knowledge. She had come from the entertainment industry, completely unfamiliar with internet slang, memes, and streaming culture.

    “You’ve gotten really knowledgeable about online broadcasts and gaming in just three years.”

    “Haven’t I? I’ll have to raise my son one day, after all. And while it’s Gia’s job now, who knows? Maybe someday, I’ll need to help out.”

    “At this rate, you’ll end up knowing too much. Poor Jae-woo won’t even be able to sneak extra gaming hours.”

    “Please. If I’m being honest, I’d let him get away with everything. I have zero intention of raising him as some ‘gifted’ kid or anything. Of course, if he ever says he wants to be a streamer, I’ll fight him.”

    The two women laughed while watching Gia run around as Apolla.

    Then, Do-hee mumbled under her breath,

    “I’ve been thinking... Gia’s going into her fourth year next year. Maybe it’s time to promote her to team lead.”

    Ji-ho’s ears perked up immediately.

    “Oh, that’s great news. Wait, is that why we’re hiring for the operations team?”

    “Yeah.”

    Usually, they aimed for a 4:1 application ratio before interviews.@@@@

    Ji-ho recalled the pile of accepted resumes she had received just yesterday from Do-hee.

    “That explains the 300 applicants.”

    “Yeah, I knew Parallel was getting big, but I never expected 300 for just three positions.”

    That was a 100:1 ratio.

    For comparison, when they held auditions for Parallel’s first-gen talents, the competition had been 200:1.

    “Anyway, since we’ll be swamped after Halloween, I want to do the interviews before then. But I’m debating... Should I just have you in the interviews, or should Gia be there too?”

    This was the kind of question that, in the wrong company, might undermine Ji-ho’s authority.

    But Ji-ho just took it in stride.

    She usually built tank items.Her skills and ultimate were designed to build and detonate stacks.If she ever had enough time to fight, it was usually better to just demolish structures instead.

    Which meant...

    If Magia abandoned the turret for just a moment and killed Lightning, the game’s entire trajectory would shift.

    “Leafs, sorry. Just this once—”

    — No.

    — Magia, don’t do it.

    — You son of a bitch, STOP.

    "Unni, drop the black cloud and take out the guy who came to stop you first! He’s squishy too!! And dodge the ult no matter what!!"

    Ding— The table bell rang sharply.

    On the broadcast screen, a punishment stack was added to Komari.

    [Rubber Duck House: 17 hours]

    Boom! Black smoke spread around Apolla.

    From Komari’s perspective, the fight favored Magia.

    It just so happened that the enemy she was up against was Lightning—the same opponent she''d been laning against all game. That meant Magia had a solid grasp of their attack patterns and ultimate range.

    ''They’re just Iron, too. As long as she dodges the battle skill and ult...!''

    KABOOM! A chain of lightning bolts sliced through the black smoke in a straight line.

    Magia dodged the lightning but didn’t step out of the cloud.

    "Dodged the battle skill!"

    The enemy began charging their ultimate.

    In two seconds, an electromagnetic wave would blanket the entire clouded area.

    2, 1, 0.

    Just as the ult fired, Apolla dashed out of the cloud.

    Her brief stealth prevented Lightning from tracking her during the charge-up.

    The electromagnetic wave rumbled across the cloud’s surface.

    BZZZT!

    "Dodged the ult too...!"

    As her stealth faded, Apolla reappeared behind Lightning, just outside their field of vision.

    There was no headshot bonus in this game, but that didn’t matter—Magia''s double-barreled shotgun roared to life.

    BOOM!

    One shot and Lightning lost a third of their HP.

    Komari slammed the desk and screamed.

    “Holy shit, that damage is insane!!”

    — WTF, what’s that damage?! LMAO

    — Is this really full-offense Apolla??

    — Wait, was her basic attack always this strong??

    Apolla’s normally four-second reload time had been cut in half thanks to her full attack build.

    Lightning, despite being well-fed, could only land auto-attacks for the next two seconds—but even that was brutal against Apolla’s paper-thin defenses.

    Both of them were chunking each other down.

    Another BOOM! from the double-barrel.

    Now Lightning was at one-third HP.

    Apolla was at half.

    — She’s got this!

    — Lightning''s battle skill is about to come off cooldown!

    — If she gets hit, this could still go either way...

    — SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT!!

    2, 1.

    The double-barrel reloaded.

    At the same time, Lightning’s battle skill came off cooldown.

    The two champions scrambled around the battlefield.

    But Magia’s crosshair locked onto Lightning first.

    In the crucial moment, raw mechanics determined the winner.

    BOOM!

    {{EtchedScarsAreToppae’sShame 3GamesADay=3k500}}

    — HELL YEAHHHHH

    — That aim was insane LOL

    — She plays like an Iron, but that FPS experience is undeniable

    — Damn, that was Komari-tier aiming

    Immediately, even the enemy team couldn’t help but react.

    [All] 3GamesADay=3k500: What the fuck

    [All] 3GamesADay=3k500: What kind of full-offense Toppae bullshit is this???

    Meanwhile, Magia casually turned back to hammer away at the last core turret.

    Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

    A barrage of defense pings flooded their enemy’s base, but it was useless.

    The opposing team, still charging toward Magia’s base with their Dark Knight buff, had no idea that the one defender they had sent had just been deleted.

    [All] 3GamesADay=3k500: FOR FUCK’S SAKE, LOOK AT THE PINGS, ARE YOU BLIND?!

    [All] StayinBronze4Life: ?

    [All] StayinBronze4Life: Wait, did we seriously lose to Apolla? LMAO

    [All] StayinBronze4Life: Our Lightning was garbage wtf

    [All] 3GamesADay=3k500: LOL if you guys don’t stop her, you lose your promo game.

    [All] StayinBronze4Life: Oh shi—

    CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.

    Stacks built up fast.

    Two enemies began recalling, desperate to stop her.

    But Magia’s surviving tank and support threw themselves in the way, canceling the recalls with CC.

    [Team] IfItWereRammel: Apolla, PUSH!!!!

    [Team] IfItWereRammel: We’ll cancel their recalls!!!

    12 stacks.

    It was demolition time.

    Apolla knelt and took aim at the core turret.

    The light from her halo crystallized into special bullets, sliding into the chamber.

    Fweeeeeeeeeeee—

    BOOM!

    {{EtchedScarsAreToppae’sShame Core Turret}}

    Only one target remained.

    The enemy’s Nexus—which would crumble within 16 more stacks.

    All-chat was still a mess of screaming and blame.

    Magia’s team desperately blocked recalls.

    More allies respawned and dove into the chaos, preventing any enemy from making it back to base.

    **[Team] IfItWereRammel: PUSH!!

    [Team] IOnlyBarkAtCrazyPeople: WOOF WOOF!!

    [Team] JustLetMeBronze: PUSH THAT SHITTTTTTT

    “Unni, BREAK IT!!!”

    — LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    — SHOOOOOOT

    Magia calmly loaded another round, stacked up more charges—

    And BOOM.

    Victory.

    — HELL YES

    — STAFF D WINSSSS

    — GOAT

    — HOW THE FUCK DID SHE PULL THIS OFF LOL

    — SHE LITERALLY RIPPED THEM APART

    — HOLY SHIT

    While the chat erupted into a frenzy, united in awe, Magia turned to Komari with a smirk.

    "Carry."

    Ding.

    The rank evaluation screen popped up in the center of the screen.

    [EtchedScarsAreToppae’sShame]

    Iron II - 84 LP ↑

    It was just one game—

    But Komari, on the verge of mental collapse, let out a hollow laugh.

    “Are all Iron players like this...?”